The name Bislay is of Anglo-Saxon origin and came from when a family lived in Sussex and Buckingham. The Bislay surname is a habitational name derived from any of various places named Beckley, such as those in Kent, Oxfordshire, and Sussex. The place name Beckley comes from the Old English name becca with the Old English word leah, meaning a clearing in the forest.

Early Origins of the Bislay family

Early History of the Bislay family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Bislay research.Another 155 words (11 lines of text) covering the years 1661 and 1438 are included under the topic Early Bislay History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Bislay Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Bislay family name include Beckley, Beckly, Bistley, Bickley and others.

Early Notables of the Bislay family (pre 1700)

More information is included under the topic Early Bislay Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Bislay surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Richard Beckley who arrived in Boston Massachusetts in 1637; Sarah Bickley settled in Maryland in 1740; Richard Bickley settled in Virginia in 1624.